Edible Cancer Sticks

Back in my hometown of Stratford, there are a lot of factories. I worked at one for 3 summers, and got to meet a lot of good folks who unfortunately depend on coffee and cigarettes to get them through the day. They also had an odd little habit of calling their smokes, “cancer sticks”. Nice visual.

And you’re not going to like this, but I’ve borrowed their phrase and now refer to french fries as “edible cancer sticks”. After all, they deserve a similar distinction. Here’s why…

In a recent study done by Polish researchers, they put 14 subjects through every pothead’s dream study and made them eat potato chips every day for 4 weeks. (The potato chip is very close cousin to the french fry, of course.)

Both chips and fries contain relatively high concentrations of acrylamide, which is a potentially carcinogenic compound found in starchy foods that have been heated.

So in this study, which probably wasn’t hard to fill with volunteers, each subject ate 160 grams of chips each day (about 3/4 of a LARGE bag) for 4 weeks (containing 157mg of acrylamide).

At the end of 4 weeks, all subjects had increased levels of oxidized LDL and C-reactive protein (a measure of inflammation). There was also a significant increase in free radicals and a massive immune system response. It was as if the body was being attacked by the chips, or more specifically, the acrylamide (and probably all the other good stuff in the potato chips).

The researchers also did a follow-up test of the subjects four weeks after they stopped eating the edibile cancer sticks, and all that bad stuff was starting to come back to normal, but hadn’t fully returned to healthy levels.

Nasty stuff.

If you eat fries or chips everyday, you are killing yourself softly. Get rid of the junk, eliminate the food from a bag or a box, and get healthy again!

This study shows that not only are you consuming a potentially carcinogenic substance, but you are also increasing your risk of heart disease. Now that’s a two-for-one special you should pass on.

<=== Other chips to avoid!

Of course, you don’t need me to tell you that it will also be killing your fat loss. If you need help improving your diet, just focus on making baby steps. Every day you should try and be a little better than you were yesterday.

Cut back on the junk.

Add a new fruit or vegetable.

Switch to fewer foods from a bag or a box, and add more whole, natural foods to your diet.

You’ll be shocked at the improvements in your mental energy and performance from these nutrition changes. I can’t imagine how bad these folks after a few days of stuffing themselves with chips.

Sure a snack once per month is okay, heck, I even had some pringles at Christmas time…but you need to start passing on the fries a lot more than you should be adding those to your order.

Craig Ballantyne is the author of The Perfect Day Formula: How to Own the Day and Control Your Life. Craig has been a contributor to Men's Health magazine for over 17 years. Today he teaches his gift high-performing entrepreneurs how to squeeze more out of their days, increase their income, and make more quality time for their families in his Perfect Life Workshop and Work-Life Mastery programs. Craig used his own advice to overcome crippling anxiety attacks in 2006, and he'll teach you his 5 Pillars of Success so you can increase your income, decrease your work time, and live the life of your dreams. Learn more about Craig at craigballantyne.com

Enjoy guests like Lewis Howes, Bedros Keuilian, Brad Pilon, Carrie Wilkerson, and other inspirational entrepreneurs and authors. Plus, get insider tips on how to make the most of your mornings, kickstart your productivity, and set goals you can actually achieve!

About ETR

Early To Rise delivers science-based systems and structures to help people achieve a higher level of performance. We share proven strategies for success and help our readers steer clear of fads, gimmicks, and frauds. This ensures a win-win relationship between our readers and ETR, and creates faster results for everyone.